Jones booked in the 71st minute. Aaron Ramsey on as a sub for Burnley at the same time.
Phillips on for Jones in the 73rd minute.
Sloppy passing continues with Malander at the heart of it. Nothing down the sides with Brittain continuing the receive the ball then pass it back.
Frustrating, and Burnley looking the more likely to score.
Strelec on for Lanky Will in the 87th minute.
1-1. Another game of two halves. At least this one wasn't lost!
I guess a point is better than nowt although from the sounds of it, yet again missed changes have cost us the 2 points.
Lucky to have held on to a point when all said and done. Malanda became a liability in the 2nd half. Got to hope the new comers will get up to speed with their new team mates quickly...
Still a point is a point and on we go.
After a difficult 20 minutes or so, then Morris does what he has not looked like doing since he arrived. Then more chances came which we spurned.
And so it came to pass, with Burnley equalising with woeful defending once more, and then looking the more likely to score. Still in the end, a point earned, but it should have been three against a Burnley team with lots of injuries.
However, another game of two opposite halves, compound by the continuation of too much poor, sloppy passing, gaps in the midfield and lack of pace at the back showing.
One has to hope we will improve when players settle in, but at the moment it is not happening.
Still nothing from out wide, too much slow tippy tappy and not creating space.
10 shots, but only 2 on target. 5 out of ten tonight. With Hellberg not looking happy.
A frustrating second half that wasn't dissimilar to Blackburn and again Boro let Burnley have a free run on goal to equalise. That gave them and the crowd the confidence they had been missing in first half and Boro seemed to lose theirs. Not sure the subs improved matters as losing McGree weakens the team and then both Malanda and Ayling were exposed - with the former becoming error prone and the latter over-hitting balls and getting exposed for pace.
Berhalter the pick tonight but another indifferent second-half display that needed something different despite Boro playing a good aggressive press but needing more pace and more quality deliveries - something for the new boys to add but still a work in progress.
Lucky to get away with a point in the end. Sad to see Malander seem such a fish out of water in the middle of the park. No drive or progression.Too many misplaced passes. At best simply moving the ball on. He's better as a class centre back, facing the play
Conway added some energy, but he mainly cut inside towards the traffic and the danger was gone.
I thought Castledine looked lively, but boy, do we need our new flying winger. We had a terrible lack of penetration throughout the team
Morris my MoM not only for his shooting but because he was back to his best form- one of the few to provide some ball-winning grit, the lack of which was so sorely evident when Burnley scored
I felt deflated at the end. We really should be winning these type of games
It did not work last season and it’s not working this either. Hellberg needs to stop messing around and play his a squad in their best positions, unless it is an emergency.
He also needs to up his game.
I’ve been uncomfortable with Malanda on the ball for a while. He’s not a midfielder in my eyes but he is a good central defender, although I don’t think he’s as good as many commentators make out.
I’m disappointed that I’ve again failed to get a win again but, in hindsight, I did say before the game that I’d settle for a draw. Onwards to QPR.
A game we should have had won by half time if McGree's effort from Lankshear's pass had gone in, that would have really got the crowd on their backs. The goal they scored was so preventable, Malanda didn't step forward as he had been doing all night to cut out the danger and so the Burnley player got a free run. I agree with Len about Joseph. Everything about him looks awkward, the shot that lead to the second goal on Saturday was not well struck, the only positive I can see is that he has pace and could be a second half impact sub. One concern is Lankshear picking up yellow cards. He has 2 in 4 league games, also one in the EFL Cup. The latter does not count in the 5 for a league suspension.
2 POINTS DROPPED?
Before the game I would not have been unhappy with a draw. However based on the play in the first half the game should have been over. Boro played well.
Second half and Boro let Burnley back into the game. Their goal showed Boro need to improve their defending. A group of Boro defenders made no attempt to close down the player with the ball allowing him all the time in the world to shoot and score.
After that Burnley were in control and Boro created very little. A few disappointing performances eg Malander giving the ball away in dangerous areas - he is not a midfielder. Lack of pace in defence. Inability to break at speed when the opposition give the ball away in midfield.
Today was an example of a game where a team in control needs to put the game to bed. Boro failed to do it with the coach looking frustrated on the touch line.
Philip of Huddersfield 👎🤔👎
This is the NE take on Malander, and apparently Hellberg’s
Morris was still the game’s stand-out player, closely followed by Adilson Malanda, who was once again stationed at the base of midfield, sweeping up behind Morris and Sebastian Berhalter. In time, perhaps weekend signing Rokas Pukstas, who was on the bench at Turf Moor, will make the role his own. For now, though, Kim Hellberg clearly values Malanda’s athletic, combative qualities as part of his midfield mix.
Not, however, that the 24-year-old is devoid of creative qualities too. Hellberg feels comfortable moving Malanda around because he trusts his abilities on the ball, and the stand-in midfielder was heavily involved in Boro’s opener midway through the first half.
Still no sign of the Whittaker sale having been completed
@pedro - apart from the new signings, I don’t necessarily think that the starting was too far off KH favoured starting 11 although time will tell I guess.
in an ideal world I would have had Sarmiento starting instead of Joseph and I agree with others that Malandra needs to stay as part of a back 4 or 3 - having him in midfield doesn’t appear to be working.
What we have is the basis of a solid team which I think lends itself more to 4/5 at the back when defending but moving to a three when pushing forward - the issue is more the make up of the 4.
We also have a strength on the bench that should allow KH to change things around depending on circumstances.
@philip-of-huddersfield - IF KH is frustrated, then that is partly down to him - he selects the team and gives the instructions along with training. We need to sharpen up defensively, it happens too often that we give the ball away and then don’t close the opponents down enough. One would think that shouldn’t be too difficult to do.
@martin-bellamy - my crystal ball wasn’t working - unless it saw the shot that hit the post as a goal - like me, it is getting on a bit! Maybe I’d better use the tea leaves for the next prediction.
Still, it wasn’t a defeat and we are only 1 point off the 2 per game that should get us promoted
Not the three points we maybe think we should have taken but i'm not overly concerned at this early stage of the season as I feel there are sufficient reasons.
We had three right sided attackers missing - MW sold, Sarmiento inj, ACD not ready, meaning Joseph moving over from the left.
We had four midfielders missing - PH inj, Barron & Pukstas not ready, Castledine covering Joseph, meaning AM filling in which probably also prevented LA being rested. However, not using the versatile Arfsten to mitigate any of the above is a bit odd.
As others have said new players settling in will take a while. Lets not forget this is KH first proper start to a season, the first of three contracted remaining. He, and we, still have plenty of time to get better. Also worth remembering that the much lauded strong local spine of our largely successful system of last season has completely changed, we've replaced Sol, Dael and Hayden (HH; our best player, the league's best player and our key fulcrum). A difficult transition, so when i see only three teams with more points and only three teams with more goals than us I don't see it as too troubling . . . just yet.
Like Len, I was also deflated at the end of the game as Burnley were there for the taking and once again we failed to capitalise on our dominance.
I cannot remember, in recent years, a Burnley team that looked so poor and yet we let them off the hook.
Once again we fail to defend properly and gifted them a goal which roused the crowd and made it an uncomfortable second half which we could easily have lost.
These are not issues of players not yet gelling or players missing these are basic and systemic failures which we have experienced numerous times before.
If we continue to play walking football, fail to take our chances when presented and give away school boy error goals then this season is going to be another frustrating one.
Sorry to sound so negative but we are just not performing as we should and the same problems continue when they should be well and truly addressed.
I am feeling far from confident about our game at QPR and just hoping that the other “typical Boro” performance will turn up.😎
Still no sign of the Whittaker sale having been completed
"Colorado Rapids complete paperwork for $10.7m Morgan Whittaker deal from Middlesbrough". The Athletic (syndicated via The New York Times).
Well I’m not at all despondent after last night. There’s significant room for improvement, of course, and hopefully we’ll see that as the new players are integrated into the team.
To question KH’s ability at this stage seems premature to me. We remain within touching distance of the top three without producing our best yet. I’m happy to be patient.
@k-p-in-spain Sorry to sound so negative but we are just not performing as we should and the same problems continue when they should be well and truly addressed.
So true. We had these problems last season and the summer incomings should have been taken into account to facilitate these. It’s as though either the players have not learned (which one could argue, then are not good enough) or the issue lays with the coaching staff.
I still believe that Hellberg is too focused on the attacking side of the game and believes the stats from last season. He probably thinks that now we have Lankshear everything will be alright.
We play attacking football, which is too slow and predictable most of the time, but tend to leave ourselves open far too often. He appears to have done nothing to improve that.
Unless Cozier-Duberry can create and also score more than Whittaker, then we may struggle this season.
@pedro. “We play attacking football, which is too slow and predictable most of the time, but tend to leave ourselves open far too often. He appears to have done nothing to improve that.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Here in Spain we have a synthetic football pitch just over the road from us and each week a lot of elderly gentlemen turn out to play walking football and yet they move the ball quicker than the Boro do at times; it frustrates me to watch us play at walking pace whilst constantly re-cycling the ball.
The lack of intensity and driving at teams needs to be given more attention or else nothing will change, new players but same old outcome. 😎